Monday, October 20, 2014

Villagers asked to contribute money for laboratory facility

Poor villagers of Gamasara village, Nyandoto ward in Tarime district,
Mara region are at risk of having their properties confiscated in case they
fail to contribute the sum of money required of them in order to construct a
secondary laboratory facility in their ward. A leader in the village has said
that, each family in the village is required to contribute the sum of Sh.
20,000 as part of their contribution to facilitate construction of the
laboratory facility of the Nyandoto Secondary school which is within their ward
currently being supervised by Tarime Town Council. Speaking in a telephone
interview early this week, the chairman of the Nyasebe hamlet in the village Deus
Ngera confirmed that, village leaders including its chairman had received directives
from the higher authorities in the district which required villagers to
contribute to the construction of such a laboratory facility. He said, the
amount of money proposed was introduced by all village leaders who had attended
the meeting and that it was unanimously agreed, whoever fails in one way or
another to accomplish the task without concrete reasons will have his property
snatched and sold, but couldn’t specify what type of the property when asked. However,
he further noted that, this is done in line with the normal procedures which
usually occur whenever a communal development project is to be undertaken and
which normally atre4 insisted by village elders according to tradition. Commenting
over the issue, the Director of Tarime Town Council (TTC), Venance Mwamengo
confirmed the incident when contacted last week in a telephone interview and affirmed
that, each ward in his jurisdiction has been asked to arrange for themselves in
collaboration with village leaders on how their people could contribute to this
important development project currently being spearheaded by President Jakaya
Kikwete.

“The move is part of the
implementation of President Jakaya Kikwete’s order who has requested directors
of all district councils in the country to ensure that, ward secondary schools
in their areas are equipped with modern State-of-the-art laboratory facilities
for students by end of this year”, he said. However, he said that his council
will contribute 90 percent of the total cost to be incurred for the laboratory
construction in each ward and the rest to be accomplished by villagers in areas
where such laboratories are to be built. He assured that his council has put in
place the strategic measures with a view to ensure what President Kikwete has
insisted is accomplished on time, and that villagers’ contributions has to be
included as part of the progress to boost plans. On his part, an official of
the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Administration (LG &RA)
Mohammed Mavula said in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday last week that, plans by the
ministry to boost development projects initiated by local government
authorities in the country remains intact. According to him, the issue of
constructing laboratories for ward secondary schools in the country is a joint collective
workforce which has to be assisted to some extent by rural people where these
secondary schools have been constructed. However, he declined to elaborate why
villagers as those ones in Gamasara village who have been involved to
participate by contributing something and noted that, this is a decision by local
government who have full authority that cannot be interfered with their developmental
matters. The officer was contacted with a view to establish the legality of the
villagers to be included to contribute money to be used for the construction of
the laboratories bearing the fact that, most rural dwellers are faced with extreme
poverty an aspect that are not able to afford. In response, Mavula noted that,
every citizen has the right to contribute wherever appropriate for the national
development project to every citizen is directly concerned regardless of their
poverty stricken situation as the idea of national development concepts are
well stated in national policies

AWARD 1

I won the second prize in policy category of the African Information society Initiative ( AISI) awards 2004 which is annually organized by the United Nations- Economic Commission for Africa ( UNECA) based in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia. On the first photo above standing with other awardees after the Ceremony at the National Settlers monument in Grahamstown, South Africa.This was during the 8th Highway Africa Conference.The second photo shows the cross section of Jounalists from different African countries who attended the ceremony.

AWARD 2

I also won the AISI-GKP/SDC Media Award special reporting on WSIS process and Africa, and conferred with the award in Tunis, Tunisia during WSIS summit in 2005. See the photo above.

AWARD 3

Winner on the Media Competition on writing about " Stigma denial and Discrimination" associated with HIV/AIDS. This was organized by theAssociation of Journalists Against Aids in Tanzania ( AJAAT). On the Photo above President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of Tanzania, ( then the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation) was the guest of honour during the award giving ceremony.This was at Maelezo auditorium in Dar-es-Salaam September 2005.

AWARD 4

Winner on the Media Competition on writing about "Vulnerable Children" associated with HIV/AIDS This was organized by the Association of Journalists Against Aids in Tanzania ( AJAAT)

AWARD 5

Winner of the National ICT Media Award organized By SWOPNET in the Country. On the photo above Morogoro Regional Commissioner, Brigadier General ( Rt) Saidi Kalembo was the guest of honour during the award giving ceremony which was held at New Sarvoy Hotel in morogoro town.I was awarded a Mobile phone and a tape-recorder.

AWARD 6

I participated in the Media Competition in writing about VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing) in Tanzania which was held between July 15th and October 30th 2008 whereby I emerged among the top five winners. The competition was under the program known as “Tanzania bila Ukwimwi inawezekana” which literally means, Tanzania without AIDS disease transmission is possible”. This is a program which was organizedby the Association of Journalists Against AIDS in Tanzania (AJAAT) under TACAIDS funding. In the photo, I am being presented with a certificate of participation by the Chairman of the Tanzania Commission for AIDS (TACAIDS) Dr. Fatma Mrisho in a colorful ceremony which was held on 22nd December 2008 at Tanzania Information Centre in Dar es Salaam.

AWARD 7

AWARD 8

AWARD 9

I was among the top 17 best selected students who excelled in their final examinations of the 2010/2011 academic year and awarded with the Vice-Chancellor’s prize. I scored 4.5 GPA (First Class) in BA in Journalism. Above I am being given a certificate by the Chairman of the Open University of Tanzania Board of Senate. Standing at the centre facing camera is the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Tolly Mbwette. Extreme left partly hidden is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Professor Elifas Bisanda. This occasion took place during the convocation meeting, a day before the graduation day at the prospective permanent headquarter of the Open University of Tanzania which is currently under construction at Bungo-Kibaha in Coast region 40 kilometers away west of Dar es Salaam city.